No city in the United States is worse to live in than Miami. The city’s median home value of $245,000 is well above the national median of $181,200. However, with a median household income of only $31,917 a year, well below the national median of $53,657, most of these homes are either out of reach or a financial burden on most Miami residents. Like most of the worst cities to live in, more than one in every four people in Miami live in poverty. According to recently released research from the nonprofit think tank the Economic Policy Institute, the top 1% of earners in the Miami metro area make about $2 million annually, 45 times greater than the average income of the other 99% of earners. This earnings gap makes the metro area nearly the most unequal of any U.S. city.

Citywide violence is closely associated with a range of negative social and economic outcomes, including incarceration, unstable employment, lower cognitive functioning among children, and anxiety. A disproportionately large portion of Miami residents likely experience some of these outcomes as the city’s violent crime rate, at 1,060 incidents per 100,000 people, is several times higher than the national rate.

The thing about Miami is this: You have Miami, then you have North Miami, South Miami, West Miami, Miami Beach. There's a lot of people in Miami with some serious money. The Jews, the Hispanics, and the Blacks who have been rooted there for generations. However, most of the money is in the hands of the Jews and South Americans. Americans left Miami long time ago to go to Broward county, where things are a bit more balanced. Miami is not a poor city. The problem is distribution and access. Some people have access to it, others are denied.

I will say...the same problem Miami is having, Denver is having. Denver is having the same problems as L.A. is having. San Francisco is having the same issue as New York. America is the problem! It's too fucking expensive to live anywhere in America and people aren't making enough.

America needs a new resolution. But, let's just narrow it down. Florida, south Florida in particular...has a big disparity problem. But, America needs to take responsibility for what it created.

It's ironic because people from the tri-state run away from the high taxes to places like SoFL just to fuck with the housing market and make things worse for the locals. Didn't the 2008 crash take a toll on FL more so than anywhere else?

miami's housing market has been fueled primarily by foreign money pouring into the u.s. as a safe haven - particularly from south america where most economies are extremely fragile

they use it as a hedge in case things in their own countries get too dicey to stay

same thing happening in broward county with the canadians but for different reasons - this past year, when the canadian dollar tanked in sinc with the collapse in oil prices, the canadians were selling like crazy, i assume, because they were over bought

with cheap money coming from the fed (with no end in sight at this moment in time) the housing market in pockets all around the country is repeating the same things that caused the collapse of 2008 - history repeats itself - u just watch

I've never lived there but I have visited and toured around. I love it. The architecture is interesting, the city has plenty of great restaurants, Sobe and Haulover are close, I love all the water that is everywhere, and the Cuban food is amazing (though unhealthy). It has gotten pricey in the better neighborhoods but high rises are still affordable and the view unmatched. Very walkable city in many areas.

To clarify, this story is about only the City of Miami. Not any other add-a-name-to-the-word-Miami-to-make-a-new-city City, So it is not about Miami Beach nor Miami Gardens nor Miami Texas nor Miami Ohio. The ranking refers only to the incorporated City of Miami, FL period.

To the anti-Semitic comments that Jewish people are in some way responsible for the plight of Miami, you can go fuck yourself for that. Aside from a few of us on Brickell overlooking the bay, we're mostly over by the beach or having lunch in the Gables. Thanks for the fresh scapegoat though, as I haven't seen that in at least the minute since whatever last thread I read.

To the housing crash comment, yeah, we got killed but Florida is on the come-back. Though your timing is off because here it hit in 2006 with Wilma which put our lights out literally & figuratively. The 2008 recession just worsened that and it has taken years to get out from underwater. The only area I think back up to bubble prices all these years later is Miami Beach in part driven by foreign investment. That scenario for the most part does not apply to the rest of the Miami's nor to Florida which is coming back by fundamentals.

Sobe, which is not Miami and not part of this ranking, is odd because there is a lot of money but also as noted a lot of pretenders. It has one of the highest crime rates in the country and much of that is within the very beautiful historic deco district (the large swath generally from south of Lincoln to N of 5th). South of Fifth is very pricey as are Palm/Hibiscus Islands, the Venetian Islands and up into La Gorce which is stunning with lots of 10plus million dollar houses.

The views and walkability of Miami Beach are indeed unmatched. Just the length of the boardwalk alone which I've been on many many times. And now they are also constructing a walkway along the bay. They did an excellent job down along the inlet too.

One issue with Miami Beach which might add to the crime--I don't know, because otherwise it seems a great idea--is the proposed light rail link across the bay into Miami, the city which is the subject of this thread. Because I'd think that would make access even easier not just for good people heading to the beach for the day but for trouble as well.

Meanwhile, nobody commented on my moon over elephunt? You people suck.

FuzzyPecs28 saidThe thing about Miami is this: You have Miami, then you have North Miami, South Miami, West Miami, Miami Beach. There's a lot of people in Miami with some serious money. The Jews, the Hispanics, and the Blacks who have been rooted there for generations. However, most of the money is in the hands of the Jews and South Americans. Americans left Miami long time ago to go to Broward county, where things are a bit more balanced. Miami is not a poor city. The problem is distribution and access. Some people have access to it, others are denied.

I will say...the same problem Miami is having, Denver is having. Denver is having the same problems as L.A. is having. San Francisco is having the same issue as New York. America is the problem! It's too fucking expensive to live anywhere in America and people aren't making enough.

America needs a new resolution. But, let's just narrow it down. Florida, south Florida in particular...has a big disparity problem. But, America needs to take responsibility for what it created.

One thing that definitely needs to change in Miami are all these separate little communities that need to be consolidated into the central city of Miami. The costly duplication of government services just adds more to the cost of living especially taxes. The State of Florida should just expand the corporate boundaries of the City of Miami to encompass all of Dade County rather than having this costly, inefficient patchwork of little municipalities all infighting and pirating both business and residents from one another. A map of Miami looks like a jigsaw puzzle similar to Chicago and other older northern US cities. It needs to look more like your favorite city, Nashville, Tennessee which is a consolidated city-county metro government.

^The reason my town, which had long been part of "unincorporated dade county" (just a bit south of South Miami, which is just a bit south of Coral Gables) incorporated into Pinecrest (and real estate values SKYROCKETED) was because the city couldn't sufficiently provide the services the area wanted.

Like "Metro Dade" before it, which proved a model for the nation, "Pinecrest" proved a model for subsequent neighborhoods to incorporate into, among others, "Palmetto Bay" and "Cutler Bay" (known as "Cutler Ridge" when I was growing up until they thought they'd try to get fancy schmancy).

There's a reason for these little municipalities - the larger system doesn't work.

And, like anywhere, there are good areas and bad. When I moved to Manhattan one would avoid Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side at all costs - and for that part, Williamsburg and newly acronymed areas like DUMBO. I still would because when the market tanks, the first real estate to drop the most are the pioneered, recently gentrified areas.

Yeah, well, Pinecrest I like and I've visited as semi-tourist since I was a very little kid. Earlier we lived up north but one of my grandpas had settled in Coral Gables back in the 40s so I've been flying back and forth since I was a baby and I remember very well my many times at Parrot Jungle there. It was wonderful. Haven't been since they turned it into a park. When I was a little kid you could entice with a seed the birds down from the trees. Of course, at the time I thought they had come down to chat with me, but in hindsight probably it was the seeds. I'd often have them on me as I walked through the place. But later as it got more populated/popular, the birds got skittish and then you'd only have them on you at the photo area.

Right around there too is Fairchild where of course I've been to throughout my life, so beautiful. I couldn't count the hours I've spent there. I didn't know Cutler Ridge changed its name. That's where Andrew went right through. I was in Lauderdale but was sent down there the day after it hit to work that area. We got hotel rooms for a week or two because getting in & out was near impossible. And while there when not working we were helping our colleagues who lived there. One of my favorite coworkers, a very funny lady, lived in Cutler Ridge. I'll never forget that. The entire fucking roof over their living room was gone. That was so horrible for them. We worked our asses off. What a mess.

Surveying the area my first few hours out I actually had gotten nauseated & had to take a break, having never seen that much destruction before. We had gone out to report in pairs, knowing it would be weird. The most telling thing I saw that sticks in my mind was a restaurant sign, two steal I-beams girders bent like elbows. That's how strong that wind was.

South of Pinecrest got hit the worst (and for those unfamiliar with Miami, MOST of Miami is NORTH of Pinecrest, not that the city and South Beach won't eventually be hit by an epic storm and end up underwater, but San Francisco has earthquakes and who knows whether Diamond Head will re-erupt, lol).

Re Parrot Jungle for those not in the know, it relocated to Watson Island near South Beach and downtown but the beautiful grounds were left behind as an unbelievably beautiful town park with paved winding paths through the only tropical rainforest in the continental United States and spectacular coral rock structures. The parrots are long gone, replaced by hordes of people visiting the grounds for various reasons because most of the areas, while still accessible to the paying public, are also rented out at ASTRONOMICAL rates as indoor and outdoor venues. But even in this presumably safe, desirable Miami suburb I was recently...molested.

Here's THAT story...

My new Sunday morning ritual was an 11am yoga class, then a noon visit to that park's Farmer's Market and a several lap power walk on the winding trails beneath its rainforest canopy. Usually I go with my hag but yesterday, I went solo.

I thought I looked pretty good, bigger and more jacked and ripped than usual since I've been hitting the gym hard. Also, you don't wear loose flowing clothing in yoga if you don't want your junk to fly out and your belly bared doing headstands so I was wearing my typical outfit, a wifebeater (in this case, the one with the superman logo in my profile) and fitted gym shorts, and instead of my dork glasses I was wearing cool prescription Ray Bans, and had worked up a light sweat.

I don't disengage from my surroundings with phones or earbuds when I walk or exercise. I'm pretty situationally aware so by the end of my first lap I had the park dynamic down - typical Sunday, with spillover from the Farmer's Market, an Eagle Scout ceremony in the art gallery at the entrance, kiddie birthday parties at the picnic table and splash 'n play areas, a smattering of foreign tourists, a plethora of strollers, and what looked like a geriatric jewelry making class in the original historic entrance.

At one point in the trail I zigged when I should've zagged and spun 'round to follow another trail, almost running into a woman ahead of me. She was wearing a turquoise one piece bathing suit with khaki shorts pulled over them and a long ponytail. I figured she was a splash 'n play mom taking a breather from the kids. I tried passing her but she seemed to be crowding me. I managed to pass her but got a weird vibe off her and started spinning scenarios in my head - "I'm a single man walking solo in a park filled with women and children, and I'm going to be met by a gauntlet of cops apprehending the perv who stalked and sexually harassed a young mom." Yep, a paranoid thought - no gauntlet appeared and I didn't see the mother again for another few laps.

Getting tired from the heat and a bit disassociated by lap 4, out of my peripheral vision I sensed I was being followed. Like they say you should do when you're driving - change your route to confirm this - I took a detour and walked a circle and indeed, it was either a coincidence or I WAS being followed/stalked.

I boldly looked directly over my shoulder to see who it was and realized it was the swim 'n play mom. I thought "Oh shit, I better walk faster so she doesn't think I'm following HER," and did.

But she quickened her pace, her footfalls echoing ever more loudly, and came up on my heels, then walked abreast, flashed me a big smile and said "hello."

I got my first good look at her - pretty, clean-scrubbed without a hint of makeup, in her thirties, petite, latina - and she asked where I was from.

A pretty woman boldly asking me a random generic question stirred a memory I couldn't identify right then and while in my head I answered with zero game like Scooby Doo ("hrrrruh?") I smiled back and told her "from here" (it's my hometown).

She said she was from South America.

Then as we continued walking side by side she grabbed my crotch.

Major Cognitive Dissonance.

We kept walking. She released it and again asked where I was from, making me question (among other things) her grasp of English, when she copped another feel, more insistently, as if to see if what she felt the first time was real (it is).

With her slender fingers firmly grasping my basket I had a sudden flash of insight.

I remembered the memory, over thirty years ago, when me and bunch of other guys backpacking Europe, sleeping in a public park but in what amounted to a sleeping bag collective for safety, were awakened to the sight of women kneeling over us asking in a friendly way random generic questions like "What is your name? Michele?" "Where are you from?"

If I was wrong this may have gone south real fast, but with the splash 'n play mom's hand still on me I said: "C'MON, dude."

I'd realized she was transgender.

She gave me a smile, motioned to the freestanding bathroom building adjacent to the geriatrics making jewelry, and said "Come with me."

Now, I may be a lot of man, and I found her stirring, but I'm not enough man to be serviced within a stone's throw of geriatrics, an Eagle Scout ceremony, a stroller brigade and a half a dozen little kids in swimsuits so I told her "You're very convincing in every sense of the word and thank you, but I'm not interested. And BE CAREFUL."

And I left her, finished up two more laps, and left the park.

Weirdly, I have to admire her balls. As for me, I think I inadvertently discovered cruising.

FuzzyPecs28 saidThe thing about Miami is this: You have Miami, then you have North Miami, South Miami, West Miami, Miami Beach. There's a lot of people in Miami with some serious money. The Jews, the Hispanics, and the Blacks who have been rooted there for generations. However, most of the money is in the hands of the Jews and South Americans. Americans left Miami long time ago to go to Broward county, where things are a bit more balanced. Miami is not a poor city. The problem is distribution and access. Some people have access to it, others are denied.

I will say...the same problem Miami is having, Denver is having. Denver is having the same problems as L.A. is having. San Francisco is having the same issue as New York. America is the problem! It's too fucking expensive to live anywhere in America and people aren't making enough.

America needs a new resolution. But, let's just narrow it down. Florida, south Florida in particular...has a big disparity problem. But, America needs to take responsibility for what it created.

Perfect summary, I could not have said it better. It has become prohibitively expensive everywhere, and incomes have not kept up. That is the real issue.

eagermuscle said...Then as we continued walking side by side she grabbed my crotch.

Major Cognitive Dissonance.

We kept walking. She released it and again asked where I was from, making me question (among other things) her grasp of English, when she copped another feel

English seems an odd name for a penis. Must be a billiards reference.

I haven't been to the new one, in part because I didn't want to distract myself from my childhood memories of visiting the original but especially because I couldn't imagine enjoying it, knowing how excellent was their first site. Those paths, those plantings, the hardscape, all of that was spectacular and I was real glad to learn when they were considering moving that it would be preserved as a park. Truly a treasure.

But yeah, Andrew came in south of there and I spent a number of weeks working the area. So I saw a lot of that destruction. 2nd stories collapse over the first. Everyone's insurance company names spray painted onto the sides of the houses. Early on I saw some signage spray painted onto intersections asking helicopters for water and supplies. Seriously a war zone. And then there were all those diesel army trucks all over and that smell on top of the generator smells, when the sights alone could make a man sick. That's the closest I've seen to what less fortunate people experience in war torn areas. That and I also was at the 9/11 site while it still burned. That was another tough sight to see but that was very contained, though so much more deadly of course. South Miami was destruction strewn wherever you turned or for however far you drove.

It did not extend to southbeach where we stayed in some deco hotels down by news café. Getting back to Lauderdale that early into it was nearly impossible and we didn't want to get in the way of emergency & supply vehicles so we just stayed in place till things cleared up a bit.